Melipona helvola Klug - Spinola, 1840Spinola, M. 1840. Observations sur les Apiaires Méliponides. Annales des sciences naturelles pour la Zoologie ser. 2 (13):113-140. (distribution).
Melipona rufiventris Lepeletier, 1836:421, xw.Brésil (Musée de France). - Spinola, 1840Spinola, M. 1840. Observations sur les Apiaires Méliponides. Annales des sciences naturelles pour la Zoologie ser. 2 (13):113-140.:123 ( listed as synonym of Melipona helvola Klug); Dalla Torre, 1896Dalla Torre, C.G. 1896. Catalogus Hymenopterorum hucusque descriptorum systematicus et synonymicus, X. Apidae (Anthophila). Sumptibus Guilelmi Engelmann, 1-643. (distribution); Cockerell, 1912Cockerell, T.D.A. 1912. New bees from Brazil. Psyche 19 (2):41-61. (distribution); Friese, 1916Friese, H. 1916. Zur Bienenfauna von Costa Rica. Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung 77:287-348. (distribution); Bodkin, 1918Bodkin, G.E. 1918. Notes on some British Guiana Hymenoptera (exclusive of the Formicidae). The Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1917:297-321, pls. XXI-XXIII. (distribution); Nates-Parra, 1995Nates-Parra, G. 1995. Las abejas sin aguijon del genero Melipona (Hymenoptera: Meliponinae) en Colombia. Bol. Mus. Ent. Univ. Valle 3 (2):21-33. (distribution); Nates-Parra, 2001Nates-Parra, G. 2001. Las abejas sin aguijón (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Meliponini) de Colombia. Biota Colombiana 2 (3):233-248. (distribution); Smith-Pardo, 2003Smith-Pardo, A.H. 2003. A preliminary account of the bees of Colombia (Hymenoptera: Apoidea): present knowledge and future directions. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 76 (2):335-341. (distribution).